Football Gryphs secure second-place finish

Winning feeling

Rob Massey/Guelph Mercury

Defensive lineman Jeff Finley of the Guelph Gryphons celebrates Guelph's 33-28 victory over the Queen's Gaels Saturday at Alumni Stadium. The win gives the Gryphs a bye in the OUA football league's quarter-finals.

The Guelph Gryphons clinched a second-place finish in the OUA football league standings and the accompanying quarter-final bye Saturday when they scored a come-from-behind 33-28 victory over the Queen’s Gaels at Alumni Stadium.

“That was too close for comfort,” Gryphon quarterback Jazz Lindsey said. “If everything goes well (for Queen’s), we’re going to have to see them again (in the semifinals) and we can’t have a game like that if we see them again.”

The Gryphs fell behind by 25 points midway through the second quarter before getting their offence in gear. The Gaels were held scoreless after Dillon Wamsley convert following Justin Chapdelaine’s 34-yard touchdown scamper on a fake field goal with 6:27 to go in the first half put the visitors up 25-3.

“We got down and the guys fought back and maybe that was the lessons they learned in the Western game (a 42-39 win a week earlier),” Guelph head coach Stu Lang said. “When we got down by a lot … I looked on the bench and I didn’t see any worry. As a coach, that’s phenomenal.”

The Gryphs seized momentum heading into the break when they scored two touchdowns in the final two and a half minutes of the opening half to cut the gap to 11 points. Rob Farquharson from four yards out and Jazz Lindsey on a one-yard keeper play accounted for the scores.

The big touchdown, though, came midway through the third quarter when defensive back Mac Myers intercepted a Billy McPhee pass and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown. Mike Fortino caught a pass for a two-point convert and the gap was suddenly down to three points.

“Coach told me all week that they’re going to be picking on me and Hutch (fellow defensive back Iain Hutchison),” Myers said. “They had it in their newspaper that they’re picking on the second-year guys. They did it and they had some success, but I made that play. It was unreal.”

Farquharson erased it with his second four-yard touchdown run of the game five minutes later.

The kickers, Julian Tropea and Dan Ferraro, collected the other points. Tropea kicked a 12-yard field goal and three converts while Ferraro booted a single on a punt for the only point of the fourth quarter.

“We held our composure, which is good,” Jazz Lindsey said. “It shows that our team has a lot of heart and that’s good because that will take you real far.”

The win was Guelph’s fourth consecutive victory by a five-point margin or less.

While the game at York will be meaningless for the Gryphs, it means a lot for the Lions as they still have an extreme outside shot at qualifying for the playoffs thanks to their 36-24 win over the Toronto Varsity Blues Saturday.

The McMaster Marauders (7-0) and Gryphs (6-1) have secured first-round byes and will finish first and second respectively. Queen’s (5-2) will finish third and Western (4-3) fourth and both will host quarter-finals. In the race for the final two playoff spots are the Laurier Golden Hawks (3-4), Windsor Lancers (3-4), Toronto (2-5), York (2-5) and Ottawa (2-5). The Waterloo Warriors (1-6) will not qualify for the playoffs.

The Gryphs will host a semifinal match Nov. 3. If Queen’s wins its quarter-final, they’ll be Guelph’s opponent that day. The Gryphs will play the winner of the other quarter-final if the Gaels lose their playoff opener.

The first-round bye is the first for the Gryphs since they went 6-2 in 1996. They won the Yates Cup that season.